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SW 698: Social Work Practice in Mental Health Summer 2010 (Mon., 8:00AM-Noon)

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SW 698: Social Work Practice in Mental Health Summer 2010 (Mon., 8:00AM-Noon) SW 698: Social Work Practice in Mental Health Summer 2010 (Mon., 8:00AM-Noon) Scott Weissman, LCSW, ACSW Office: SSWB 3760 [email protected] (734) 913-9548 1. Course Description This course teaches practice models and methods of intervention for effective social work practice in mental health care, including the promotion of mental health, the prevention of mental illnesses (with special emphasis on relapse prevention), and the delivery of psychosocial treatments and rehabilitation services. A major focus is on enabling individuals with mental health problems to increase their functioning in the least restrictive environments, with the least amount of ongoing professional intervention, so these individuals maximize their success and satisfaction. This course has a specific emphasis on services to individuals who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness, substance abuse in conjunction with mental illness (dual-diagnosis population) and/or who are recovering from the effects of severe traumatic events. Interventions relevant to these conditions help individuals develop/restore their skills and empower them to modify their environments so as to improve their interactions with their environments. A second major focus is on culturally competent and gender-specific interventions and special issues for groups who have been subject to oppression. Privilege and social justice concerns will be a major emphasis of the course. Mental health disparities will be considered in relation to diagnoses, treatment options and case disposition within the mental health system. 2. Course Content The course will present practice methods for carrying out functional assessments, resource assessments, establishment of client preferences, development of plans to meet service needs, services to enhance client skill development, and the development and modification of relevant community and agency environments. The emphasis of the course is on approaches that enhance problem-solving and coping strategies and are empowering and supportive to consumers, both individually and in groups and families. This course will provide students with models and methods for the promotion of mental health, the prevention of mental illness, the provision of effective treatment of psychiatric disabilities, with an emphasis on promotion of optimal adaptation when psychiatric disabilities are long lasting. Assessment and intervention strategies will be included for use at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, and societal levels. A special issue is the integration of services for individuals with multiple problems. The course, therefore, will emphasize the integration of micro and macro 1 methods through which students learn to make social, behavioral, environmental, organizational, administrative, and policy assessments, with an emphasis on risks/strengths assessment and capacity-building. Students will develop knowledge of empirically-based interventions and will be able to select and implement appropriate methods based on assessments and service plans. A major focus of this course will be gender specific and culturally competent interventions with and for groups who have been subject to oppression, such as people of color, women, lesbian/gay/bi/transgendered people, the aged, and people with disabilities. 3. Course Objectives Students who complete this course will be able to: 1. Assess the risks and strengths of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and/or communities for the purposes of promoting mental health, early intervention, treatment, and continuing service, with an emphasis on problems faced by people who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness, substance abuse, and/or who are recovering from the effects of severe traumatic events. 2. Plan or plan and conduct culturally competent, gender-specific individual, family, group, organizational, and community-based capacity building and preventive interventions 3. Identify and demonstrate understanding of the many components of the mental health system as team member, advocate, broker, community organizer, and program planner, in order to interact productively with the many components of the mental health system. 4. Build partnerships with key neighborhood and self-help organizations and institutions for the purpose of mental health promotion and disease prevention. 5. Incorporate social work values and ethical standards in practice in mental health. 6. Plan or plan and engage in advocacy at both micro and macro levels to help individuals overcome oppression, discrimination, and other barriers to access and quality of mental health services. 4. Course Design The course will include lectures, discussion, simulations, small group exercises, individual and group projects, guest speakers, and written assignments. 5. Relationship to Four Curricular Themes Social Science and Behavioral Research is presented throughout the course and includes findings from evaluation studies and intervention research in social work, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. Multiculturalism and Diversity are integrated throughout the course especially in view of the fact that mental health problems are experienced very differently in various cultures, each of which has its own indigenous responses to healing. In addition, the stresses 2 associated with mental health problems and accesses to appropriate services are differentially affected by gender, poverty. race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. The students must be aware of these issues and helped to develop culturally competent and gender-specific interventions and interventions to overcome oppression and discrimination as barriers to access to and quality of care. Social Justice Issues have special relevance to the processes of psychosocial rehabilitation. Persons with psychiatric disabilities are often discriminated against with respect to access to education, employment, housing, and financial assistance. Health insurance plans often discriminate against persons with mental as opposed to physical disabilities. Social justice issues are often seen with respect to the processes of commitment, the rights of people in mental institutions, the rights to treatment (such as in the criminal justice system), access to attorneys, and the determination of competence to stand trial or when mental illness is offered as a defense in a criminal proceeding. The student will learn about these issues in the course as well as the role of social work in fighting for these and other rights. Promotion/Prevention/Treatment/Rehabilitation are addressed throughout the course. Mental disabilities often occur or are exacerbated as a result of stressful environmental conditions and the ways of seeking changes in these conditions or preventing them will be stressed. 6. Relationship of This Course to Social Work Values and Ethics: Virtually every topic of this course is related to issues of social work values and ethics, and these issues will be dealt with in this course. Examples of these issues are priorities assigned to various services and populations by mental health agencies and the role of social workers in molding these priorities, recognition of the right of self determination of consumers of mental health services, the principle of the utilization of the least restrictive environments for treatment of mental disorders, the values placed on preventive services, an understanding of the responsibility of workers to strive for less stressful environments in relationship to preventing mental problems, the creation of community respect for individuals in the community whose behavior, while lawful, departs from community norms, and promoting community awareness of the “not in my back yard” phenomenon. 7. Accommodation for Disability Statement Any student who feels that s/he may need an accommodation for any type of disability (physical, mental or learning, temporary as well as chronic), please feel free to contact me at any time during the semester so that we can discuss options that will enable you to complete the course responsibilities. 8. Writing Assistance For further assistance with writing, you may go to the Writing Workshop 1139 Angell Hall 764-0429. 3 9. Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity: All academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and misrepresentation will be treated seriously. You will find a discussion of plagiarism and other violations academic integrity. Please consult your Student’s Guide to the Master’s in Social Work Degree Program (online). Recommended Mental Illness Memoirs/Narratives/Texts: Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp, 1997 Dial Press A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 2005 Anchor books Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D by Lizzie Simon, 2003 Washington Square Press. In Small Doses: A Memoir about Accepting and Living with Bipolar Disorder Mark Pollard , 2004 Vision Books International Terry: My Daughter's Life-And-Death Struggle With Alcoholism George McGovern, 1997, Plume Books Under Observation: Life Inside McLean Psychiatric Hospital Lisa Berger and Alexander Vuckovic, M.D., 1994, Penguin Press We Heard the Angels of Madness: A Family Guide to Coping with Manic Depression, Diane and Lisa Berger, 1991, Quill Press. Just Checking: Scenes From The Life of An Obsessive-Compulsive, Emily Colas, 1998, Pocket Books Willow Weep For Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, 1998, Norton Press. Living With Prozac and Other Selective Serotonin
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